It’s not often that your third-string quarterback is your longest-tenured player on offense. That was the case for the Pittsburgh Steelers for most of the past two seasons, but now that third-string quarterback, Mason Rudolph, is the starter. And from the sounds of it, most of his former teammates couldn’t be more pleased to see him finally getting his opportunity.
“It’s been incredible to watch him the last few weeks play some amazing football”, former Steelers Pro Bowl LT Alejandro Villanueva told Jason Mackey for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, noting that the two remain close friends from their time together in Pittsburgh. “I would always tell Mason that I knew the moment was gonna come”.
Rudolph told reporters earlier this week that several of his former offensive line teammates, such as C Maurkice Pouncey and G Ramon Foster, did reach out to him in recent weeks to congratulate him on his success and encourage him moving forward. Outside of a social media post by Pouncey, these are the first public words from any of them I’m aware of.
“The man has been waiting for this for years. I’m super happy for Mason and how everything has transpired”, Villanueva said. “It’s obviously been difficult for him the past couple of years, but when he finally got his break, he showed that he can be a really good football player”.
It started after QB Kenny Pickett suffered an ankle injury late in the first half of the loss to the Arizona Cardinals, pushing Mitch Trubisky into the lineup. He started the next two games, but played so poorly that he was pulled at the end of the second loss in favor of Rudolph. The latter has played every snap since.
Drafted in the third round in 2018 as the potential heir apparent to Ben Roethlisberger, by the time the future Hall of Famer finally retired, Pittsburgh had already begun to make other arrangements.
The Steelers signed the veteran Trubisky in free agency and then when the opportunity presented itself, they drafted Pickett, the first quarterback off the board all the way at 20. Had he not been there, would they have taken a different quarterback? Who knows? But it all conspired to keep Rudolph on the bench for the next 30-plus games.
There is a public perception that the Steelers organization has badly mistreated Rudolph over the course of his career. Whatever one chooses to believe about what decisions were made and what opportunities were provided, he is the starter now, at least for the time being.
After not even seeing the field in 2022, he finished the 2023 regular season 55-for-74 passing for 719 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions with a 118.0 quarterback rating. His 71-yard touchdown to WR Diontae Johnson in the opening moments of the fourth quarter in the season finale against the Baltimore Ravens earned him a game-winning drive, just the second of his career in 21 games played.
